>py 1 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 




By W. G. KLEE, 

Gardener in Charge of Agricultural Grounds, University of California. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
18 8 3. 



14, Si DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



c 



\U 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 




Br W^Gr KLEE, 

Gardener in Charge of Agricultural Grounds, University of California. 






WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1883. 



11 Go 1 



CxrVM *S 



4 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

success, at least in this region, while their example of planting in upper 
California gave the impulse to planting in more suitable localities in 
this latitude. 

In Lower California, especially at Mullise and Loreto, the date-palm 
is cultivated regularly, and the product is sold in Guynas, on the oppo- 
site side of the Gulf. Of the source of these plantations we have no 
certain information, but from what I have learned of Mr. Carlos Gom- 
pertz (late of the University of California), for a long time a resident of 
Guynas, and who has traveled extensively through Mexico, it appears 
that all the oldest date plantations in Sonora are at the missions, or in 
their immediate vicinity, and there is therefore every reason to believe 
that here also they were introduced by the mission fathers. From his 
statement as well as others, it appears that dates are cultivated regularly 
in Southern Sonora, and when attended carefully and receiving plenty of 
water they ripen delicious fruit, which in places are eaten as real food. 
The fact that the date thrives in Sonora, in a climate w^here heavy summer 
rains prevail, would at first seem to indicate that the fruiting of the date- 
palm is not confined to as distinct and peculiar a climate as the investi- 
gations of its culture in the Old World would lead us to believe. Closer 
examination, however, shows that the conditions here are very similar 
to those of Punjaub, the northwest province of India, where summer 
rains do not seem to be detrimental to the date, because occurring 
chiefly during July and August, while the time of blooming and that 
of fruit- ripening, early spring and fall, are dry. This, probably, is also 
the case in Florida at the points where date culture is said to have 
proved successful. It is an established fact that date culture is a suc- 
cess in Southern Sonora and Lower California, and we know that the 
climate of Upper California possesses the most important condition for 
date-growing, viz., that of a long rainless season, which seems to com- 
pensate for the less amount of actual solar heat, the former condition 
being so important that its fulfillment enables the date to ripen as far 
north as 38° northern latitude, a circumstance I shall refer to later. 
The date-palms found at the old missions in Upper California are un- 
fortunately very few, and have for many years grown without proper 
care. 

At the mission church in San Diego large trees, perhaps more than a 
hundred years old, are still living ; and while they produce fruit every 
year this never seems to mature. The location where they grow is 
very dry, and as no attention whatever is paid to the fertilization of the 
flower, it is not strange that the fruit should not ripen. Beside these, 
there exist several other date-palms scattered through the town of 
San Diego, none of which, according to the information I have been 
able to obtain, ever matured fruit. 

Farther up the coast, in Los Angeles County, especially in the beau- 
tiful valley of San Gabriel, date-palms may be seen here and there; but 
heie also there is no lecord of ripened fruit. The same is the case at 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 5 

Santa Barbara, at W. W. Hollister's farm, where a number of date- 
palms are growing, characterized by a stunted, bush-like appearance. 
Unlike these in aspect are some beautiful trees near the mission church 
of San Buena Ventura, their tall, palm-like growth being striking 
to every one. Whether this difference in appearance is due to variety 
or to climate, or to both, it is difficult to say, though the similarity of 
the latter points to the difference in variety as being the cause. As to 
the production of fruit we have not been able to obtain any reliable 
information. 

DATE-GROWING IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. 

At the Bixford farm, near Sonoma, Sonoma County, an interesting 
case of a young male palm flowering at the age of six years from the 
seed was reported by Mr. J. P. Bixford some two years ago. The male 
spike from this tree exhibited at the meeting of the California State 
Horticultural Society had apparently well-developed pollen, character- 
ized by the penetrating but agreeable odor belonging to the date 
flower. As there was no female tree blooming there at the time, fruit 
in this case was out of the question. 

That, on the whole, fruit could have matured properly, even under 
favorable circumstances, iu any of the localities mentioned is rather 
doubtful. San Diego, although far enough south, has a very moderate 
average summer temperature, owing to its proximity to the sea. The 
same objection applies to the more northerly points at Santa Barbara and 
Buena Ventura, as even the portions of Africa'to the seaward of the At- 
las is uusuited for date culture. And while the more protected valley of 
San Gabriel has a fine, uniform climate, very suitable for the orange, it 
has not the requisite amount of summer heat for ripening any but very 
early varieties, which of course would only be raised by accident from 
the dates of commerce, the source whence all these trees seem to 
have sprung. At the place in Sonoma mentioned above, the season 
must be considered altogether too short for maturing dates, unless it 
should be the New Algerian variety referred to in the California Horti- 
culturist for the year 1877. 

When it is taken into consideration that in most of the cases men- 
tioned no particular care has been given to the date trees, and that in 
all cases they have been grown from seeds (a mode of propagation only 
practiced in very favorable localities, for the reason that the same va- 
riety does not perpetuate itself in this way any more than our apples 
and pears), it is not surprising that only negative results have been 
obtained. It is the more interesting to note some results of date- 
growing in the northeastern part of Sacramento Valley, the Putah 
Creek and Vacaville region. It deserves mention that, although as far 
north as 38°, this part of California furnishes the earliest fruit in the 
San Francisco market, even earlier than counties much farther south. 



6 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

As this region seems to present the most interesting cases of date- 
growing, and no doubt the only instance of dates coming to full ma- 
turity in Upper California, I have taken pains to investigate personally 
the place of experiment and to receive information from the first source 
on the spot. 

About the year 1857 or 1859 some fresh date seeds were procured in 
the San Francisco market and planted on Mr. J. R. Wolfskill's original 
place, near Winters, Yolo County, on Putah Creek. The young seed- 
lings sprouted easily and received but ordinary care, and were planted 
permanently the next year in a place about 100 yards from the 
creek-bed. The site is high above the creek-bed (about 25 feet), and 
in the fall of the year (October, when we examined it), far from being 
moist, although the character of the soil, an extremely rich, line, sandy 
loam, is such as will allow seepage. The trees received the same care 
as the rest of the orchard wherein they we~e planted — careful cultiva- 
tion, but no irrigation. 

Some years ago this place passed into the hands of Mr. S. C. Wolfs- 
kin, a brother of 3Ir. J. E. Wolfskill, who removed to a place farther 
down the creek. Subsequently he removed a number of date-palms to 
this his present home, but being quite large most of them died, and at 
present only one, a large male tree, is alive. The remaining plants (a 
number of which afterward were cut down, so that their number was 
reduced to six) continued to grow finely, and are to-day large trees, 
averaging 25 feet in height, some more and some less, and with trunks 
2 feet or more in diameter. As they stand close together — about 6 feet 
apart in a row — their size is remarkable. 

Only two of these trees have ever shown flowers, both being females, 
bearing for the first time at about the age of fourteen years ; and of 
these one has continued to do so every year, being now loaded with 
fruit, having five large "regimes,"* or clusters, averaging 20 pounds 
weight in the unripe state. Although there is no male tree here, the 
nearest place where any are grown being Mr. J. R. Wolfskill's, about a 
mile and a half away, these dates obtain good size (about one inch and 
a half in length), but do not ripen fully, while the seed is but imper- 
fectly formed. Of course if it receives fertilization at all it is by chance, 
carried by insects, as the male tree stands to the leeward of the female. 

The coming year the tree will be properly fertilized, and it will then 
be determined whether the non-producing is owing to its being a late 
variety or to the want of fertilization, or to both. The two trees at Mr. 
J. R. Wolfskill's stand near his house in a more favorable locality, 
though the male tree spoken of before is shaded and its trunk bent 
somewhat, owing to the proximity of a large olive. The female tree, 
which is of comparatively low stature, stands some 15 feet from the male, 
and has a full exposure to the sun. 



f Name given to the date-bunch in the date countries. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 7 

This tree, the only one that ripens fruit, is evidently of a totally dif- 
ferent variety from the male, and is the only one remaining from a lot 
of trees raised by Mr. Wolfskill, the seed of which was bought, under 
the name of African dates, in 1862. It is therefore twenty years old 
now. It is 5 to 6 feet in circumference, and G feet up to the first fresh 
leaf, where also the regimes are attached. It bore fruit for the first 
time when fifteen years old, but owing to the picking of the fruit, Mr. 
Wolfskill never obtained enough to judge of its quality. It did not 
produce fruit again until 1881, when for the first time there was ob- 
tained fruit in abundance, probably 100 pounds or more, in five regimes. 
some of which were exhibited at the San Francisco Bulletin office. 

The fruit is of a very beautiful red-wine color, contrasting very effect- 
ively with the bright yellow stems, about an inch and a quarter long, 
perfectly smooth; different in this respect from that of the non-matur- 
ing variety on Mr. S. C. Wolfskin's place, which is sharply triangular. 
The maturing date-tree blooms in April or May, while the staminate 
tree is much earlier, sometimes two months before, and is passed out of 
bloom when the pistilate is ready for fertilization. How the fertiliza- 
tion is accomplished, therefore, is a matter of doubt and not a little sin- 
gular, the only plausible explanation being the prolonged vitality of 
the pollen. That fertilization is accomplished cannot be questioned, as 
the fruit produces many fine fertile seeds, from a few of which plants 
have been grown. That the pollen is capable of retaining its vitality 
for many years is a well-known fact, but in that case, of course, it must 
be protected from the influence of the open air and sun. 

Another interesting case of date-growing is that of Mr. G. W. Fraser,. 
of Elmira, Solano County. Mr. Fraser obtained seeds of some fresh dates 
just received by Mr. W. 11. Strong, of Sacramento. From these he raised 
the date-palms now growing on his place, all of which are female trees. 
At the age of ten years they produced fruit, which, however, never 
ripened, as of course was to be expected, owing to the want of fertili- 
zation. The soil wheret hese trees are growing is also a rich, sandy, 
alluvial loam. Like Mr. Wolfskills dates, they received no special care 
and have never been irrigated. 

Besides the cases mentioned there is at least one more instance of 
date-growing in this section ; but it has been impossible to learn the 
particulars, owing to the remoteness of the locality. The data in hand 
give us, however, some very important points. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

In the flrst place, they establish the fact that the date-palm will grow 
in latitude 38° north to a large size in a comparatively short time ; that 
it will fruit in shorter time than in latitudes several degrees farther 
south in the eastern hemisphere. 

Fifteen years is the average age of bearing in North Africa when 
raised from the seed, while, as we have seen, there are instances 
here of bearing at as early an age as ten years. Mature fruit has 



8 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

been produced without artificial fertilization, the neglect of which 
everywhere causes failure of the crop, at least in northern latitudes of 
the date zone. When we remember that date-palms generally are 
grown from the offshoot, or sucker, as the only means of regulating the 
variety, the proportion of sexes, and that only by artificial fertilization 
a crop can be depended upon, we must consider the above fact very en- 
couraging. These remarkable results can only be explained by the fact 
that the Californian climate possesses two factors of the greatest im- 
portance for successful date culture, a rainless, hot summer, and a dry, 
clear atmosphere. It cannot be denied that these circumstances prom- 
ise well for a culture which is the more important because ft can be 
carried on in a climate, in a soil, and with a water supply that no other 
useful plant will endure. For, as will appear- from the following 
treatise, the date-palm (/rows and flourishes in places where the grapes would 
be burned on the vines; in a soil too poor and too purely mineral for any 
other fruit tree ; and it produces the finest and best flavored dates, nour- 
ished by water too alkaline for man and beast to drink. 

The great probability of successful date culture over a large part of 
this western coast in Southern and Central California, as well as parts 
of Arizona and Colorado, wherever water of some kind may be pro- 
cured, will become apparent to every one who takes the pains to read 
the appended abstract from Professor Fisher's carefully compiled work. 

One cannot help being struck by the great similarity of climatic con- 
ditions of the date zone to those of the regions named, and the possible 
great usefulness to immense tracts now lying waste. It is well known 
that in the so-called arid regions of this State, as well as in those of Ari- 
zona, a great many of the springs and rivers are charged with alkalies, 
which render them unfit for any culture except that of a few plants 
originally growing in saline regions, such as beets, asparagus, &c. In 
California the Tulare Lake basin is of this character, rendering suc- 
cessful culture in many cases very uncertain. If in the date-palm we 
have a tree adapted to all of these regions, or only part of them, then 
the importance of this culture cannot easily be overestimated. 

In the following pages a review of what we have considered the most 
important of Professor Fisher's work is given. It treats of the history 
and details of date culture, as well as of the climatic influences gov- 
erning its distribution ; and upon that basis I have made a comparison 
with the conditions of the eastern hemisphere to that of certain 
regions on the Pacific coast, supplemented with the statistical record of 
temperatures, together with the analyses of the waters of the same : 

ABSTBACT OF FBOF. THEOBALD FISHEB'S MONOGBAFR OF THE DATE 

BALM. 

[Petermann's Geogr. Mittheilungen, Erganzungsheft No. 64.] 

The original home of the date-palm, like that of the cereals aud other plants culti- 
Tated from time immemorial, is difficult to poiut out with certainty. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 9 

Some, and with them the celebrated African traveler, Schweinfurth, believe that 
the wild palm species, Phoenix spinosa, is the parent form ; but this, as Professor Fisher 
argues, is rather improbable, thia species being at home in a completely tropical cli- 
mate, with summer rains aud their consequences, altogether outside the region in 
which the date-palm comes to maturity. All probabilities point to its being a native 
of the desert region, and the Fezzans claim the neighborhood of Tragbden as its 
home. 

Wild date-palms are found scattered in Arabia and on the Siuai peninsula in smaller 
or larger groves. The ancient grove on Mount Sinai is termed Baal's grove, and the 
7iame of Baal's dates is, indeed, given to these wild palms throughout Arabia. The 
date-palm was found wild by Palgrave at Ghat in the heart of Arabia, at an eleva- 
tion of 3,000 feet. 

It appears that only three countries can be brought in question as its home, namely, 
Egypt, Arabia, and Mesopotamia. In Egypt its existence can be proved at an ex- 
ceedingly early date, perhaps earlier than any other form of vegetation. It is often 
pictured on the temples; and the tall columns and capitals are, indeed, striking im- 
ages of the trunk and leaves of the date-palm. At the festival of Isis the leaves 
were always used, and the regular development of about twelve leaves during the 
year served as a symbol of the twelve months with the ancient Egyptians. 

Date seeds or stones have been discovered in Chaldsean graves, the age of which 
must be attributed to the second if not to the third thousand of years before Christ. 
The importance of the date-palm is dwelt upon by Strabo; how it in Babylon satis- 
fies nearly all wants. "Bread, wine, vinegar, honey, flour, and all kinds of basket- 
work, the stone burned by the blacksmith as coal, and, softened in water, used for 
food for cattle and sheep." As to Arabia, owing to the want of early records, we 
know actually but very little before the time of Mohammed. But the sacredness in 
which the tree was held and the honor given to it in the Koran, which commands 
that it should be honored like a relative, speak strongly for its antiquity. It follows 
the faithful even beyond the grave, in Paradise, where, under the shade of the palins, 
by the murmuring brooks, they shall meet and love the beautiful dark-eyed maidens 
never touched by man nor genii. 

On the whole, the date-palm plays in Arabia quite another part than in many other 
countries, where it is more of a luxury; it is here, in a much higher degree than in 
any other country, the food-plant. It is the chief nourishment of the poor. This is 
most strikingly seen when a failure of the date crop by a ravage of locusts occurs, 
as famine is much more frequent from this cause than from the failure of the grain 
crop. Date shops take in Arabia the place of the baker's shops of other couutries, and 
here the date is sold fresh, or as the pressed date-bread seen in commerce, while sep- 
arate shops are frequently found where only the stones are sold, the softer kinds for 
cattle and the harder for fuel. The trade with dates in the interior also replaces the 
grain trade, and we find speculations and "corners" made in dates, just as in the 
case of wheat with us. 

The date-palm is closely linked to the existence of the Arabs from olden times, and, 
indeed, large tracts of land would without this tree be here uninhabitable. We may 
even safely say that had it not been for the date-palm Arabia would not have played 
its part in history, nor brought forth the conquering hosts, the apostles of Islam. 
From linguistic reasons, also, we are led to believe that the date-palm is of great 
antiquity in Arabia; both the name of the tree, nachl, aud that of the fruit, tamr, 
must be reckoned among the oldest part of the Arabian language, as both are among 
the simplest words, the latter especially, being a root. From these three countries, 
probably, the date spread to the neighboring land of Canaan, where it was more an 
ornamental tree, but, as in Egypt, used on all religious occasions. 

From the Phceniciaus the Greeks learned to know the date, and it received for this 
reason its name Phcenix. From here it spread to the Ionian Islands, where it was 
already growing at the time of Homer. 



10 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

With the conquering Arabic nations the date-palm spread all over Southern Europe,. 

and its culture was carried on successfully in many parts of Spain during the reign 
of the Moors. Greal and carefully compiled works describing its culture were writ- 
ten at this time, but, unfortunately, nearly all of these have been lost. 

PROPAGATION. 

The propagation of the date is done in two ways: from seed, or from the "suckers" 
or sprouts that spring from the root. The growing from seed is the least praticed, 
for the reason that neither can the same variety be thus maintained, nor can the 
right proportion between stamin ate and pistillate trees be established. It necessi- 
tates also the cultivation of a great number of superfluous staminate trees for many 
years. 

Seedlings are generally two to three times as long in coming into bearing as suck- 
ers, and they are usually characterized by a large stone and little flesh. 

In North Africa a seedling will have a well-developed crown in three or four years, 
but does not come into bearing in less than twelve to fifteen years, while live to six 
years suffice for fruiting from the sucker. In the Beled el Dscherid, the date country 
of Northwestern Africa, especially that adjoining Tunis, both ways are practiced : on 
Saharan oases, in Fezzan and Mesopotamia chiefly that of raising the offsets. 

These suckers are in Fezzan called maghrusa, and are planted in the fall without 
any special preparation of the soil, but are kept watered for a couple of mouths, every 
two or three days, when they will be rooted sufficiently to grow readily in a porous 
soil. The distance apart in planting varies greatly. In Algeria there are planted 
one hundred trees per hectare, either regularly in rows, or, as it seems, in scattered 
groups, governed by the water supply. In the rich Egyptian delta they are planted 
very close, as little as 5 feet apart in quincunx, and to every twenty pistillate trees 
one staminate. In the South Persian terrace lands they are also planted in quincunx, ■ 
but at about six steps' distauce, and the same proportion of staminate to pistillate 
trees as in Egypt. In about five years the trees commence to bear fruit, and in the 
eighth year they are taxed. They do not, however, give a very abundant yield before 
they are ten or fifteen years old, and a full crop is looked for at the age of thirty. At 
eighty to ninety years they commence to give less, but nevertheless a tree may be- 
come as old as two hundred years. In Southern Kirman the Persiau border commis- 
sion was shown trees, still in full vigor, said to be one hundred and fifty years old. 

A very curious way of renewing an old tree, practiced with exceptionally good 
varieties in many different localities, is already spoken of by Theophrastus. It con- 
sists in surrounding the lower part of the stem with about 6 feet (2 meters) of mud, 
which is constantly kept moist. In this roots will strike out within a year. The 
stem is then cut through below this and planted afresh, when it will again flourish 
for a number of years. 

The date will reach a height of 50 to 80 feet, but its growth is very slow. Owing 
to the long time needed for trees to come to maturity, but more, perhaps, to the care 
necessary on an oasis, where a continued warfare with the encroaching sand must be 
kept up, the destruction of the date-palms is considered a very wicked act. It is 
nevertheless very often practiced between warring tribes, though the common and 
quickest way of taking vengeance is to hew down the staminate trees alone. The 
trunk of the date-palm is so elastic that, though heavy winds may bend the crown to 
the ground or even tear the tree out, root and all, it is never broken. It has a diameter 
of from 30 to 60 centimeters (1 centimeter isequal to about one-half inch), and is usually 
swollen at the root ; but sometimes also in the reverse manner, thin below and thicker 
above. One or more narrow places on the trunk, which are caused no doubt by a 
temporarily too limited supply of water, are often seen. It is a remarkable tact that 
the growth of the date-palm is the same whether the tree stands in the middle or on 
the outskirts of a grove, exposed to wind and weather. The crown is formed of from 
forty to sixty leaves, and every year the lower ones die off and are replaced above by 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 11 

new ones. Generally once a year, in the month before flowering more often than in 
those after, the dead ones are carefully removed, and the stumps of the sheath give 
the tree a stunted appearance, which only gradually disappears. 

The remnants of the leaf-sheaths are of considerable importance, as they greatly 
facilitate the climbing of the tree. The flowering and the fruiting of the date occur 
of course at different times, according to the variety and the latitude and altitude. 
On the northern limits of palm culture the flowering occurs in April, as in Egypt, 
the Algerian Sahara, on the coast of Tripoli, and even on the oasis of Tebes (North 
Persia). 

Farther south the palms bloom earlier, in March or even in February, as in some 
localities in the Libyan Desert, which have even a milder climate than oases located 
farther south, where the middle of March is the time of flowering. The middle of 
March is also the time of blooming at Schat el Arab and in Central Arabia. At the 
southern limit the flowering probably takes place throughout during February. Be- 
sides, it is possible to hasten the blooming of the date by very plentiful irrigation. 
The artificial fertilization, which is commonly practiced, is usually done in the follow- 
ing way: The staminate flower raceme is opened as soon as the anthers by touch give 
a kind of cracking sound, which indicates that the pollen is sufficiently developed. 

The flower raceme is picked to pieces and a piece put into the open pistillate 
raceme, so that fertilization and fecundation must be accomplished. The pollen will 
keep a long time and will stand being sent long distances without losing its efficacy. 
Hence it is customary in the palm district of Southern Persia to keep a package of 
pollen for cases of emergency, when the staminate (male) palms might be destroyed, 
an occurrence not very rare among those warlike tribes. On such occasions it has 
been proved by actual experience that the pollen has not lost its fertilizing power 
after a period of eighteen years. 

The climbing of the trees for the purpose of fertilizing is quite a difficult task, but, 
besides irrigation, nearly all that the inhabitants of the oases have to do. To leave 
the fertilization to insects or to the wind is risky and generally causes failure. As 
stated before, in Egypt there is planted about one staminate to twenty pistillate ; 
one to a hundred only is, however, strictly uecessary. In Mesopotamia the date va- 
riety with dark fruit is only slightly fertilized, while the light-colored ones receive 
more. It is believed there that if the dark ones receive too much pollen the dates 
drop before ripening. 

RIPEXIXG OF THE FRUIT. 

Between ripening and flowering there is a lapse of time which is shorter and 
shorter the nearer we come to the south limit of date culture. The dates do not 
ripen at one time, but during several months, though the chief crop comes at once. 
The close attention given to the different stages of ripening is best proved by the fact 
that in various countries the fruit receives different names according to its stage of 
development. The time of ripening varies exceedingly, and though the different de- 
gree of earliness may make a vast difference, the fact mentioned by the traveler 
Rohlfs, that in Sinah (an oasis in the Sahara) he ate ripe, fresh dates from the tree 
in the month of February (the ordinary time of blooming), is difficult to explain, ex- 
cept on the supposition that these palms have a second distinct, crop. The main 
crop, even in w*arm countries, does not come in before August, while in more north- 
erly and cooler localities the date harvest does not occur before September aud 
October. 

HARVESTING. 

The dates of the finer sorts are harvested by picking siugly, in baskets; the com- 
mon kinds, however, by shaking the bunches, or by cutting oft" the bunches alto- 
gether. This can, of course, only be done at the main harvest. Most varieties are 



12 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

taken off before completely ripe, and after ward ripened in the suu : but in many 
places the people like to eat them in the unripe state. The total yield of the date 
crop is, with careful culture of the tree, subject to but few variations, although dif- 
ferent iu different years aud countries. Ouly invasions of locusts and similar occur- 
rences will cause complete failure. 

The yield of individual trees depends chiefly on its age and water supply. In Al- 
geria a tree has generally about eight bunches, each on an average of about 8 kilo- 
grams (the kilogram is a little over 2 pounds), but weighing as high as 20 kilograms 
a bunch. 

The value of the product is estimated at about 3 francs per year for each tree ; in 
Egypt 25 piasters 34 para, 6 francs, say, $1.15. The production varies, however, very 
much in different localities; in Mudureh, Assiut, 65.48 piasters: in Gharbieh only 10 
piasters 10 para. The value of the total yield in the whole of Egypt is estimated at 
115,838,763 piasters. For every tree there is paid here 11 piasters as a tax, which, 
however, is often increased considerably by extra taxes. The weight of a bunch is 
from 15 to 20 to as much as 50 rottles (a rattle is 0.56 kilograms, about 10 ounces), and 
such a tree will bear from six to twelve. Every bunch may bear as high as 2,000 
dates, so that on an average a tree bears about 18,000 dates. In Algeria the tax is 1 
franc ; on the poorer kinds 30 to 50 centimes. 

In Fezzan, according to Nachtigal, the well-known traveler, some trees give a 
camel-load of dates, about 200 kilograms, though generally half a dozen trees are 
needed to make up this. Iu the very elevated oasis of Bafk (about 4,000 feet, in 
Kirman, Persia), on the northern limit, trees give, according to J. Abbot, about 130 
English pounds of dates, while farther south, according to another traveler, a tree in 
a good year will bring from 250 to 400 pounds. In the southern terrace-land of Per- 
sia the yield from the best trees is as high as 170 kilograms. Farther west, in Dal- 
aki, between Buchir and Schiras, each tree is estimated to yield 50 kilograms. In 
the northern palm oasis of Iran, in Tebes, according to the botanist Bunge, a full- 
grown tree gives yearly 200 marx (3| pounds). Iu Oman (Southeast Arabia) the 
value of a palm-tree is estimated at $7 to $8, and its yearly production worth $1.50. 
We see, therefore, that the yield is very variable — as variable as our fruit crop, ac- 
cording to adaptatiou of soil and climate. 

VARIETIES. 

Like our own fruit-trees, cultivated for thousands of years, there have been developed 
a great many varieties of the date, the number of which increases sensibly from the 
outer limits toward the inner and central part of the date zone. Where the condi- 
tions are the most favorable the culture is older and more careful. While, for in- 
stance, iu the palm oasis at Elcke, in Spain, and in Tebes in Persia, only two varie- 
ties are distinguished ; in Arabia aud iu the Sahara the number swells to more than 
a hundred. It must, however, not be understood that the difference iu variety is as 
easily recognized in the form and general habits of the tree as with our apple-trees, 
where a trained eye recognizes the kind when seeing it in full leaf. 

With the date-palm it takes a trained eye even to know a pistillate from a staminate 
tree ; but that this was possible was already known to Pliny. Only a few kinds may 
be known by their growth, as for instance the amber-colored, transparent Khalas 
date from Lapra, which is easily recognized by its slender stem, less bushy foliage, 
and smooth bark. In the neighborhood of Bagdad also there are varieties that can 
be recognized by the foliage ; but only the pistillate palms can be so distinguished, 
while of the staminate trees hardly any can be recognized. 

Martins distinguishes scientifically seven varieties; Phcenix sihestris, with small 
cylindrical or olive-shaped fruit, which is, however, always dry, without flesh, and 
bitter ; P. cylindro carpa, with larger, long, cylindrical, acute, sweet, and fleshy fruit ; 
P. sphcero carpa, with egg-shaped, pointed fruit : P. gonio carpa, with angular fruit ; 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 13 

P. spluerosperma, with papery or leathery flesh and roundish, soft stones. The people 
distinguish, besides these, a great many different varieties, chiefly by the consistency 
of the fruit, but also by the shape, taste, thickness, color, and time of ripening. Ac- 
cording to the consistency of the fruit they are divided into bard and soft ; of which 
the former are the more prized on account of their better keeping qualities. The soft 
dates, which are the best-tasted, can only be k»pt in dishes or bladders, in which 
they are pressed and as much as possible kept air-tight to preveut moulding and fer- 
mentation. These date varieties, therefore, can be studied only in the oasis itself. 
According to Marmol, who knew most of the oases in North Africa, the dates atWadi 
Draa (Southwest Morocco), for instance, are so delicate that they are destroyed by 
the least moisture, like sugar. They are, therefore, hardly ever exported; but those 
that are must be most carefully packed in baskets. The shape of the date stone de- 
termines the shape of the fruit, and the oasis-dwellers will tell with certainty from 
the stone the quality of the fruit. Seedless dates, which are among the best kinds- 
were found by Desfontaines in Beled el Dscherid, by Bunge in the Tebes oasis, and a 
long, seedless variety of very good quality was purchased cheaply by Palgrave on 
the table-land of Nedsckd (in the heart of Arabia). They are, no doubt, cultivated 
in other places also. 

The nomenclature of the various varieties is very uncertain, and cannot be depended 
on even within the same oasis. In the Tunisian Beled el Dscherid the cultivated 
varieties have been estimated at from fifteen to sixty, according to various writers. 
The number in the Libyan desert is given atone hundred, and Cosson gives the names 
of seventy-five different varieties from the Ziban oasis. Of these we shall name some 
to give an idea of the extraordinary accuracy with which the oasis people distin- 
guish the qualities according to taste, color, &c, and how it occupies their minds and 
imaginations. It gives an insight into the spiritual life of the Orientals, and of the 
desert inbabitants in particular, and shows more than anything else the value of the 
date-palm : 

Degle t Nur The Light date. 

El Ghars The Sucker. 

Amekentechi Deglet The Early Ripening. 

El Arschetz The Long and Narrow. 

El Itima The Orphan. 

El Hamraja The Red. 

El Kendi The Sugar. 

El Halna The Sweet. 

ElGhazi The Warlike, 

ElDekmasi The Silky. 

Bent el faki The Daughter of the Lawyer. 

Haluat el Ulach The Sweetness of Ulach. 

Hamret bechri The Forerunner of Sweetness. 

Deglet debah The Hyena date. 

El Aschaja The Evening date. 

Heurt el Arab The Noble of the Arabs. 

Sebaa el Arus The Bridegroom's Finger. 

Bar el Djahesch The Colt's Dung. 

Khen Schusch el dil The Reserve Treasure of the Jackal. 

Deglet el Hamar The Donkey date. 

El deglet el beidha The White date. 

Temzezet The Sour-sweet. 

Chetui The Wintery. 

Schedret The Pearl on the Row. 

Bahdja The Shining. 

Djerboa The Jumping Rat. 



14 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

Kern el Ghezel The Horn of the Gazelle. 

Sessok lohw-Itihia Strike it, and it falls. 

Deglet bu Sekhraja The Camel-driver date. 

El Khebelia The Confused. 

Of seventy-five named, the value of which is different, thirty-five are distinguished 
as soft, and forty as hard. Of the latter the Light date is the most searched for, 
while the Camel-Driver date is chiefly used as provision ou desert journeys. In Tunis 
the most prized date is the Monakhir or the Nose date, which becomes as long as the 
small finger. Other excellent Tunisian sorts are Deghlas, the Royal date from Beled 
el Dscherid, and the Island Dscherba (by the Tunisian coast), which are especially 
shipped to Germany, ami particularly to Berlin. 

The dates of Tablet (Morocco) have the name of being excellent: they are chiefly 
eaten in Morocco, especially a green variety, which is named Buni. It has a small 
stone and is very sugary and sweet. In Rhadames (oasis in the Sahara, west of 
Tripoli) the most common date is Medhaneu, which is very small, black, and olive- 
shaped, resembling a variety common in Persia. In Fezzan (country south of Tripoli) 
the varieties of dates become very numerous, and as many as three hundred are men- 
tioned by some ; but they do not compare with those of the Tunisian Beled el Dscherid 
or Dongola (Upper Egypt). The highest prized ones at Murzuk (Fezzan) are Tillis* 
Tuati,and Auregh. In Sinah (Northern Egypt), according to Rohlf, the finest suits 
are the Sultani and the Rhaselli. There are many others, but an especially good one 
is a small white date, a camel-load of which brought $8 in Sinah and from $15 to |20 
in Alexandria. The varieties most prized in Cairo are Balah Amiri. a large, red date* 
which is chiefly exported to Europe, dried: and Balah im hot, a small yellow date, 
which is excellent for sweetness. It comes chiefly from the plantation at Gizeh Hiar- 
ennebi and Deir el tin. The large Amiri dates come chiefly from the province of 
Scharkijek. 

In Nubia the dates from Ibrim are famous; still more the sweet aromatic Kultano 
from Sukkot and Say, which become three inches long. In Arabia they distinguish 
a great many varieties; at Medina not less than one hundred and thirteen. The 
most famous of these are Agua and Burdi. and Seihani from Cheibar (east of Medina ). 
A much sought, but rare, variety was once the Djelely, produced from ouly one hun- 
dred palm-trees at Medina. It became 3 inches lung and 1 inch broad, with an agree- 
able odor. 

A very small sort is the Heleya, not larger than a mulberry. The Birny is one of 
the most wholesome and easy to digest : it was the favorite food of Mohammed, and 
he advised every Arab to eat seven Birny in the morning. One kind of Medina dates 
remains green even when ripe and dried; another keeps its beautiful saffron color, 
and is, therefore, drawn on threads, under the name of Kalayd el Scham, and used 
like coral beads for necklaces. 

The elevated taif (south of Mecca) produces a sort which becomes as long as a 
finger. In Nedschd, where the dates are extremely sweet, a red and a long stone- 
less variety are most prized. In Basra (in Mesopotamia), so famous for its dates, 
they distinguish, according to Niebahr, between cold and hot dates, of which the 
former are considered healthy, but the latter injurious; the former are dear, the 
latter cheap and the food of poor people. 

The Chastani is held to be the best, because it does not trouble the digestion, no 
matter how many are eaten, while the Zahidi overloads the stomach, and is, therefore, 
chiefly used fur cattle feed and fur brandy distillation. 

A great number of date varieties are found in Basra ; Niebuhr counted twenty-eight. 
The Basra dates are considered better than those of Bagdad, of which, also, there 
exists quite a number. Michaux relates that in the Delta of Schatt el Arab, from 
Bender Righ to Mina, the most delicious dates are cultivated, called royal dates* 
Tschunna Shahi, and used as presents for kings and princes, being brought to Ispa- 
han and Schiras. Southern Persia has a number of date varieties, among which some 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 15 

are found resembling olives. A black variety cultivated in Bafk (Kir man) probably 
comes from the terrace-lands of Iran. 

USES OF THE DATE. 

Dates are eaten fresh as well as dried ; and it is customary to eat in the fresh state 
those varieties which do not euclure the sun, becoming soft under its influence. 
These are allowed to become unite ripe, while those to be stored are not allowed to 
ripen fully : but there are localities where the unripe dates are eaten by preference. 
The superior kinds are pressed in a more or less soft condition in dressed aud tanned 
goat-skins, which are sewed up carefully and kept in this way. Mats are also used 
for this purpose. This gives the so-called date cake, or Akuch, from which, by dis- 
solving in water, a wholesome and cooling drink can be prepared. In South Morocco 
these pressed dates serve, aloue or mixed with dour, for a soup much used by caravans. 
From the dried dates a kind of flour may also be prepared, aud a dough from this. 
In short, they allow a great many modes of preparation. 

In 8inah the dried dates are stored iu magazines with only a wall around and open 
above, and here all palm owners bring their dates for storage, although it is accessible 
to birds. Subterranean and hidden stores are also found in the small oases in the 
desert near the palm plantations, and these are seldom altogether exhausted. Stored 
in this manner dates are said to keep lor seven years. In the drying of the dates some 
honey Hows out. This is procured also in Beied el Dscherid by placing dates of the 
soft varieties in earthen jars provided with holes and subjecting them to slight 
pressure. By regular pressing the date sirup, or so-called dips, is obtained; it is very 
much prized and is used with bread. The best is made from the particular sweet 
date, known as the Hellan from Basra, and others from Xedsch (high tableland iu 
the heart of Arabia). From the poorer sorts and the wind-falls a kind of brandy is 
made, which, however, generally does not agree with Europeans. 

Dates aie the chief nourishment of many of the natives in Northern Africa. Arabia, 
at least among the poor. Such is the case in Oman, where dried meat and dates is 
the standing dish; while the Bedouins and mountaineers live almost exclusively on 
dates and milk. Now, as in ancient times, dates and fish are the subsistence of the 
people along the coast of Eastern Beloochistan. According to the testimony of 
Fresnel there are Bedouin tribes whose sole nourishment is dates for six months of 
the year, while for the other half year it is milk, honey, and the like. In the markets 
of Arabia, especially in Hedschas, date stores take the place of baker shops, and the 
dates, cut out and sold by the pound, are the commonest food of all classes of people- 
Dates are eaten in many different ways; they are, like potatoes, with which they may 
best be compared in importance, the principal food of the poor. 

In Arabia there is a saying that a good housewife ought to know how to prepare a 
dish of dates different for every day iu the mouth. Usually they are eaten with but, 
ter or with oil, as iu Mesopotamia aud South Persia, or they are boiled to mash 
with milk, fried with butter, or cooked to thick gruel aud eaten with honey. A too 
excursive diet of dates is held to be injurious in many places; the chronic gastric 
troubles so often occurring in the interior of Arabia are ascribed to this. It is also, 
as might well be supposed, injurious to the teeth. A kind of wine is made by simply 
pouring water over the dates and leaving them overnight; the morning finds ready 
this quickly made drink, of which the Arabs are very fond. 

Of much more importance, however, is the so-called Lagbi, the real palm wine, 
which is derived from the sap of the tree aud has been known from olden times. This 
product is obtained in various ways. The crown of the tree is hewn off and a hollow- 
is made iu the stump, into which the sap flows for one to two months in rapidly de- 
creasing quantity. This rough process of course kills the tree. More profitable is 
the manner practiced iu the oasis of Gabes (Tunis), and which seems to be adopted in 
all the oases in Sahara. Here the leaves of the crown are taken off without hurting 
the heart »f the tree, the wounds being renewed every day. In this manner a tree 



1G CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

may give daily for three to four months eight to ten liters of palm sap or milk. Then 
the wound is allowed to heal over, and the next year the tree may bear fruit 
again. After a lapse of two years the process may he repeated, and there are trees 
that will stand this operation three times. Another manner is by running a little 
pipe of bamboo into the sap-wood and receiving the sap into dishes. The time of 
flowering is the best for procuring palm wine, as this is the time of the greatest sap- 
flow. Not every palm-tree, however, is fitted for the production of palm milk. It 
depends on and varies according to age and variety. This palm milk the Mohammed- 
ans are permitted to drink, and the Prophet himself was a great lover of this whitish 
blue, almost disgustingly sweet, drink. As this, however, rapidly ferments and be- 
comes palm wine, there is produced in the course of two days a very strongly alcoholic 
drink, especially when the process is hastened by using uncleansed dishes, perma- 
nently used for this purpose. After several days vinegar is formed from the wine. 
As it is very difficult to determine when the palm milk has passed into wine, the faith- 
ful may without danger allow themselves the full use of this intoxicating drink. 

According to Nachtigal, the African traveler, the Lagbi has at the beginning of the 
fermentation process an agreeable sourish-sweet taste, but the consequences are not 
very salutary, as the fermentation continues in the stomach. Nevettheless, the desert 
people used to this beverage consumed great quantities of it. In Nubia a kind of 
brandy is prepared by boiling the dates and leaving them to ferment for ten to twelve 
days. This does not appear to become vinegar as rapidly as the milk, but can be 
kept a year, or even more. The heart-leaves of the dates are eatable, tasting like 
chestnuts, and are known as palm cabbage. As this, of course, cannot be gotten 
without destroying a tree, generally old blown-down trees only are taken for this 
purpose. 

INFLUENCE OF THE DATE-PALM ON THE CULTURE OF OTHER PLANTS. 

The importance possessed by the date-palm has been dwelt on already ; it is the 
greater because it is satisfied with such a soil and irrigation as no other food-plant 
would endure ; but its importance is not confined to its own direct products. It in- 
directly promotes and protects the cultivation of other useful plants. In the shade 
of the date palm it becomes possible to raise many different trees and cereals other- 
wise impossible to cultivate aloue on account of the intense heat of the sun reflected 
from the burning sand. The fruit trees cultivated here are, without exception of the 
countries of the Mediterranean, apricots, peaches, figs, almonds, grapes, mulberries, 
and pomegranates, now and then olives, plums, aud apples. These obtain from the 
crown of the palm just enough shelter against the vertical rays of the sun. Besides, 
wheat is cultivated in its shade, and its southerly limit corresponds with that of 
date culture. In fact, nearly all kinds of cereals, vegetables, and culture plants, such 
as cotton, are cultivated in the shade of the date-palm, and, as before said, their cul- 
tivation would hardly be possible without its protection. In Beloochistan the people 
even have a special name for a date-palm grove where other cultures are carried on ; 
it is called Kelug. Only in the poorest oasis, where the soil is bad or irrigation impos- 
sible, no additional low culture is found. 

TRAFFIC IX DATES. 

The export from Tunis to Germany alone was 1,275,300 pounds, worth 381,347 marks ; 
while the export from Egypt was, in the year 1877, 2,95(i,700 piasters. 

The greater part of the dates produced in Arabia remain there ; the dates from the 
date-oases going to the non-producing parts, where coffee, &c, are received in ex- 
change. Still, large quantities are exported to Northern Africa and India; and in 
the latter place they are used a great deal for the making of arrak. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 17" 

SOIL AND IRRIGATION. 
There are few plants of -which the production is restricted to such marked and 
special conditions as the date-palm. When grown as a fruit tree this has become 
better understood, now that The climatic peculiarities of the desert have become bet- 
ter known. As regards the condition of soil most favorable, it has already been testi- 
fied from olden times that it thrives best in a light sandy soil. The freer from humus 
and the poorer for other plants the soil is, the better thrives, if not the tree, at least 
the fruit. In the fat, richly watered soil of the Nile oasis the tree thrives finely and 
makes a beautiful growth, but its fruit does not compare favorably with that of the 
more poorly growing trees of the Libyan Desert. Still, the Nile alluvium, which, 
according to Sehweinfurth, consists of firm clay, colored dark-brown by humus, and 
rich in mixture of saud and mica, must be regarded as a favorable soil, as, in fact, is 
proved in Nubia, wherein the pure desert climate excellent fruit is gotten. Very similar 
is the alluvial soil of Lower Mesopotamia — a firm, blue, or fine gray sandy loam, here and 
there replaced by sand, but strongly charged with salt. It is on this that the fine 
Basra dates are produced. An investigation by Professor Knop of the Nile alluvial 
soil near Thebes, a good date region, gave 1.17 per cent, humus and 85.50 per cent, 
fine earth. In 100 parts of the fine earth were contained 57 parts of silicic acid, 35.20 
iron oxide, and 2.22 lime, magnesia, potash, and soda. The Nile alluvium is charac- 
terized by a very high percentage of iron oxide and poverty in organic substances, 
in which respect, as well as in its high absorptive power, it resembles the soil of the 
oasis. In the Algerian Sahara there are localities where the soil consists of wO per 
cent, silicic acid, 13 per cent, of sulphate of lime, and 7 per cent, of carbonate of 
lime, and where still the palms thrive. The soil of the oasis consists of alight sandy 
marl ; that of Djofraof sand mixed with particles of lime. In the Zibau oasis, according 
to Nachtigal, it is sand mixed with clay, in which even in this latitude good dates are 
grown. In the Persian oasis Khabis the soil, according to Bunge, is clayey, sometimes 
even firm clay, and mixed with sand, and salty. On a clayey, salty soil grows the palm 
grove of Katscha, in Beloochistan. The name (El Khasirn), the famous date country 
in Nedschd (Arabia), signifies a sandy but fertile soil, and, according to Palgrave, 
consists of a yellow or red sand, which proves very fertile wherever it is irrigated. It 
therefore appears that a certain quantity of sand and salt in the soil is preferred, and 
that even in the delta of the Nile the latter (salt) is present in spite of the yearly 
inundation would be inferred from the presence of salt-marsh plants, such as Trau. 
kenia, Atriple, and others, growing as far as Thebes, unless, indeed, they are to be 
considered as stray plants from the desert, which do not propagate themselves there- 
At any rate, all Arabian writers that have written about the date-palm and its culture 
agree in the point that to flourish the date requires a salty soil. 

Ibn el Tasel, from Andalusia, who wrote in the eleventh century, prescribes how 
much salt there ought to be mixed in the manure prepared for the soil in which the 
dates are to be planted. Singular is the case testified toby Erenberg and Hemprich, 
from the island Farsan, in the Red Sea. Here travelers found date gardens where 
the palms grew directly from the fissures in the coral rocks, of which the island con- 
sists, and they were irrigated from wells. If we, therefore, cannot consider it proved 
that the date-palm (absolutely) requires a salty soil, or that it takes up and assimi- 
lates these salts, they are no doubt beneficial for it at least. 

From these investigations we must conclude that the soil adapted for the date-palm 
i* a light, porous soil, always more or less sandy and calcareous. Soil of the latest for- 
mation, whether formed by sediment or by disintegration, is the soil for the date, for 
nowhere is it found on a soil of older formation. 

IRRIGATION. 

Much more important, however, than the character of the soil is irrigation. The 
large amount of water required by the date is mentioned by all writers from the oldest 
1105 2 ' 



18 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

time to this. If this cannot be supplied by natural conditions, by the tree having 
its roots all the year round in a moist soil, then irrigation must be resorted to. 

In many localities these conditions are fulfilled, as in several certain parts of Arabia 
and in the Nile delta. The most extensive date culture without irrigation exists prob- 
ably in Fezzan, where the roots of the date-palm almost everywhere reach the water- 
table, and at most, shallow draw-wells are used ; likewise the oasis archipelago 
Nilzana, in the Tunisian Beled el Dscherid, which is said to count one hundred vil- 
lages. The abundance of springs, which in some places burst through as torrents, 
and in others till large natural basins, is so great that hardly any irrigation is neces- 
sary, and in spring the ground is covered with swamps. Not much different is the 
Arabian date district, El Casim. Here Palgrave found the water-table within six feet 
of the surface, or even less, in the driest time of . the year, the month of September, 
while during the winter all the wells are full to overflowing, forming small lakes; 
and, as it seems, irrigation is used only for cereals and vegetables. A very peculiar 
kind of irrigation is that practiced in the Algerian oasis archipelago, Wed Suf. Here 
the water-table is at considerable depth, and to make the roots reach it the trees are 
planted in funnel shaped pits twenty-five feet deep, which are dug out in the loose 
sand. The dam-like edges are protected by palisades of palm leaves against the 
blowing of the sand. Gypsum blocks are also utilized in this way. Such pits or 
holes are called ritans. At the bottom of these the palms are planted irregularly, 
and manured carefully with camel's dung gathered from everywhere. The labor in 
digging out these ritans is very great, but not less than that of keeping them in 
order, owing to the drifting sands. 

The palm-tree assumes a remarkable form in these hollows. Its stem becomes a 
short thick cylinder only a few meters high with an enormously developed crown? 
with branches five meters long ; thus resembling the low massive pillars of the Egyp- 
tian temples. When by a sinking of the water the roots are too far to reach it, and 
the tree begins to suffer, it is tied to a neighboring trunk, the roots dug out, and the 
sand taken away from under the roots. The tree is then again lowered until it comes 
near enough to the water. The appearance of these ritans is peculiar from a distance, 
as only the crown of the tree is seen, and only when the ritan is reached is the inten- 
tion of this laying out understood. The yield of trees by such care is astonishing- 
enormous regimes (bunches) hang in the tree and the dates reach perfection in these 
funnels ; protected from the wind and exposed to the reflection of the sun and in- 
creased heat of the sand-walls, they become fleshy, oily, and very sugary. Under 
the shade of the palm, by means of artificial watering from small draw-wells, vegeta- 
ble gardening is carried on and the suf man here raises his cabbages, turnips, carrots, 
millet, and perhaps a few figs, apricots, and pomegranates. These fruits are his all. 
Dates take the place of money, for with dates the workman is paid, and for dates all 
necessaries of civilization are brought from Tunis. 

In a few other localities in Egypt and Mesopotamia, by the Indus, and at some 
points by Wadi Draa (Southern Morocco), no artificial irrigation is practiced. In 
general it must, however, be said, inasmuch as the date zone is in the driest region 
of the earth, that irrigation, and partly very artificial irrigation, is necessary for palm 
culture. It is, however, carried on extensively in a most primitive style in most of 
these countries. As the date-palm flourishes in a salty soil it might be expected that 
wells or springs very salty or strongly charged with other substances would be util- 
ized for irrigation. One of the bored artesian wells contains three grams of sul- 
phate of potassium in one liter, one to two grams of sulphate of lime, besides 
chloride of potassium and carbonate of lime. Its temperature varies between 23° C, 
73°. 4, and 25° C, 77°. 8. Irrigation with this brackish water is not only not injurious, 
but on the contrary seems to be beneficial. 

In the Algerian Sahara the best dates grow in the oasis watered with brackish 
water, as also in other places near Katif (in Lahsa, east coast of Arabia); in the whole 
of Fezzan, where only very few wells are completely sweet; and in Bakarat, in Rhat 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 



19 



(both oases in the heart of the Sahara). In the Persian oases of Baf k and Khur, even 
the flowing Biskra (Algiers), which contributes to water the oasis of the same name, 
contains considerable quantities of common salt and sulphate of magnesia (Epsom 
salt). 

According to the analysis of Buvry it contains water and organic com- 
pounds 997.764 



Common salt 

Sulphate of magnesia . 

Sulphate of soda 

Sulphate of lime 

Carbonate of lime 



0.878 
0.474 
0.280 
0.448 
0.156 



1, 000. 000 



It is to be presumed that very many, if uot the majority, of the waters 
coming from the Atlas chain will show a like strong admixture of salts. 
The dates watered with the muddy sweet waters of the Nile are far in- 
ferior in quality to those of the oasis irrigated with the brackish water. 
A comparison in this respect with some of the waters of the Pacific 
coast will be interesting. It has been mentioned above that a number 
of bored wells in Algeria used for irrigation of the date-palm contained 
as much as from one to three grains of sulphate of potassium per liter, 
which is equal to about sixty to one hundred and eighty grains per gal- 
lon, and one to two grains per liter of sulphate of lime, equal to about sixty 
to one hundred and twenty grains per gallon, or a total residue of one 
hundred and twenty to three hundred grains per gallon of these salts. 
According to the analysis made at the University of California, under 
the direction of Prof. E. W. Hilgard, of the waters of Tulare and Kern 
lakes, during the year 1880, they contained — 



Grains per gallon of— 



3 o 

3.- 

O <c 
oo 

a n 

5 ® 



I 



C5 02 

9 s = 
2 m; 

o 



Kern Lake 

Tnlare Lake, south end. 

Tulare Lake, middle, surface 

Tulare Lake, middle, 10 feet below surface. 
Tulare Lake, middle, 20 feet below surface. 
Tulare Lake, near mouth of King's River. . 



211.50 
84.44 
81.95 
81.83 
81.72 
38.55 



64.37 
27. 92 
35.30 
30.46 



13.46 



115. 41 
37.85 
35.96 
39.49 



9.29 

13.44 

5.37 

7.47 



15. 01 



22. 43 
2.28 
5.32 
4.41 



4.97 



We see that the residue is in no case as large as that of the wells of 
Algeria, but, it will be observed, of a much more dangerous character, 
the carbonate of soda being especially so. How strongly charged the 
soil might become with the sea salts without injuring the date-palm 
could only be determined by actual experiments; but in this case we 
have a very practical remedy, that of gypsum, which, owing to the very 
nature of circumstances, single trees a considerable distance apart, 
could be applied with very little additional cost. The gypsum, if spread 
around each palm-tree right at the root crown, would neutralize the 



20 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

carbonate by converting it into a sulphate, which we know agrees per- 
fectly with the date-palm, even in large quantities. The practicability 
of neutralizing carbonate of soda has been illustrated on a large scale 
in Los Angeles County, where it was done at the suggestion of Pro- 
fessor Hilgard, and found perfectly satisfactory. 

As regards the neutral salts, especially sulphate of potassium, found 
naturally in a number of localities in the State of California, the very 
fact that we have no remedy against them, save that of leaching them 
out, points to the date-palm as the fruit tree to plant wherever their 
presence in too large quantities excludes other culture plants. 

The numerous borings of artesian wells by the French have increased the pro- 
ductiveness of the oases wonderfully, for the yield of the date-palm seems to be 
in direct ratio to its water supply. According to the engineer Jus a well is capable 
of supplying water to three times as many palms as it gives liters per minute; for 
instance, a well giving 60 liters per minute supplies 180 palm-trees, or 0.30 for every 
palm. Trees that received at the rate of 0.30 to 0.33 liters per minute were finely 
developed, and bore more than those which received less. But trees receiving from 
40 to 50 per day were still better developed, and bore 20 per cent, more fruit. 

Those that stand near the well bring yearly '20 regimes. With an irrigation of from 
0.40, to 0.50 liters, the dates give the fullest yield and allow besides the culture of cere- 
als beneath the trees. The quality of the water, however, seems not to be as impor- 
tant as the quantity. 

The palms are watered the whole year round, most abundantly in spring before 
flowering, and in summer before the ripening of the fruit. It has beou observed that 
those irrigated most bloom earlier and more abundantly. 

The quantity of water necessary for a palm-tree during the hot season is estimated 
in Biskra at 100 cubic meters. Although the water for irrigation is generally brought 
in open canals, a system of underground irrigation-ditches is found in a number of 
places. It seems to have been practiced the longest time on the highlands of Iran, 
in Turkestan, and in Central Asia. We find them again in the Libyan desert aud 
Tripoli-tauieu. On the Highlands of Iran this form of irrigation seems to be the most 
common, and such tunnels are called, in Persia kaudt, in Beloochistan and Afghanistan, 
kariz. They are of great age, probably hundreds of years. 

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AND LIMITS OF DISTRIBUTION. 

Having discussed the soil adapted for the date-palm, as well as its water supply, we 
turn to the climatic conditions governing its distribution, of which two factors really 
are of absolute importance — heat and atmospheric moisture. Of these the latter es- 
pecially is the more important in circumscribing its zone. In regard to temperature 
the date-palm seems to be very adaptable, since the zone of the earth where it is at 
home is characterized by an excessive climate and partially by sudden and violent 
changes of temperature. 

Date culture is still possible in localities where the winter temperature falls below 
—5° or 6° C. (23° to 21°. 2 F. ), aud where snow-fall occurs. More than once the palms 
of Laquat, in Algeria, for instance, have been seen bent under a load of snow, which 
remained on them for half a day. 

In consequence of frequent frost all experiments with oranges aud lemons have failed, 
but the date-palm seems to thrive admirably. In the oasis El Abiad Sidi Scheikh, at 
least 830 meters elevation, ice is repeatedly formed every winter, with a temperature 
of— 3 C. (26°. (5 V.), without hurting the palms ; and even farther south, in the dimes 
region of Areg— 5° C. (23° F.) has been observed. 

In the oasis Brizina. which is watered by the Wedseggeur, the water is often frozen 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 21 

at ntion. Even in the oasis of Biskra, only (about 400 feet) 125 meters elevation, the 
temperature goes below— 2 C to :: c. (28 .-t to 26 .ii F.). ami ice 4 millimeters thick is 
formed. In the oasis Tuggurt, situated still farther south, the expedition of 1853 ob- 
served, after terribly hot days, a temperature of 3 C C. at sunrise. In Murzuk (Fezzan) 
Rohlfs observed not only a temperature of 24 .8 to 23 F. in December and January, but 
also a lowering of temperature below the freezing point, for twenty-four days in suc- 
cession, right in the middle of the town. In Bagdad •"> R. (23° F.) was observed three 
times by the traveler Michaux during 1872. Also in the oasis of Khnr and Tebes, the 
most northerly of the highlands of Iran, frost is not at all unknown. It is therefore 
seen that the date-palm may quite well endure a temperature below the freezing 
point of water, only it must not last too long, or occur at the time of the development 
of the flowers or during the ripening of the fruit. Cases on record are not wanting 
of localities formerly adapted for the date that have become too cold, through some 
climatic changes, for instance, between Ispahan and Yezd. 

Unusually hard winters, as 1871-'72, destroyed a great many palms in Persian Beloo- 
chistan. Snow for the first time in the memory of the inhabitants had covered the 
■whole heights of Maschkid elevation, 1,300 meters (one meter is equal to 3.2808 feet). 

The inner part of Beloochistan is on the whole very cold at this elevation, and the 
icy north winds are dreaded very much by the inhabitants. It seems that even in 
these localities, where the date has its most northerly and elevated limit, the date 
culture must still be paying. On account of the excessively high summer temperature, 
of long duration, the sugar content of the date is very high. 

The floweriug commences in April and the dates are ripe in November. Though 
seemingly so well adapted to date culture, a too great lowering of temperature 
does occur, but at very long intervals, destroying the palms totally, or at least the 
productiveness for years. These occurrences can, however, only be compared with 
similar ones in parts of Asia Minor, by the Dardanelles, or in Lauguedoc, where olive 
culture has similarly been injured. It may be laid down as a rule that the culture of 
dates may be carried on in a country where the temperature for a short time falls as low 
as— 6°C. (21°. 2F. ), and that the growing of the palms is still possible in a climate where 
an occasional lowering of the temperature to — 10° C. (14° F.), for instance, inNizzaand 
Bordighera (Italy), where the palm often enough has to endure a temperature of — 8° C. 
(17°. 6 F.) to 9° C. (15°. 8 F.), however, rapidly disappearing. Still less sensitive is 
the date-palm to heat. Iu the same countries of which we have just spoken as sub- 
ject to the occurrence of surprisingly low temperatures, the climate is marked by very 
high summer heat. In Biskra as high a temperature as 48° C. in the shade occurs ; 
in Khadames (oasis in North Africa) 50° C. (122° F.), and in the oasis Kanar the reg- 
ular noon-day temperature rises to this. Iu the highlands the heat is probably not 
any less. Colonel MacGregor observed in the oasis Khur, in the middle of May, 45° 
C. (113° F), and Bunge in Tebes, in November, 27-£° C. (83° F) in the shade, and 37£° C. 
(99° F.)in the soil. 

We see, therefore, that the date-palm is exposed to a yearly change of air tempera- 
ture of 60° C. (140° F.), or even as much as 70° C. (158 G F.) in soil temperature. Even 
in the course of a day it has to go through great changes, for a daily change of 20° C. 
(68° F.) is almost a rule. In the Algerian Sahara a change of wind has been fol- 
lowed by a change of temperature of 40° C. (104° F. ) We shall therefore not err much 
when we estimate daily changes of temperature at from 15° to 20° C. (59° F. to 68° 
F.), in Bagdad at 13° C. (55°. 4 F.), in Multan at 17° C. (62°. 6 F.) 

It is remarkable that, unlike almost all other palms, the date-palm may endure such 
extraordinary changes of temperature. Closer examination proves, however, that it 
is only the stem and the foliage, the parts above ground, that are exposed to these 
violent changes, the roots being deep iu the ground, where a comparatively steady 
and cool temperature prevails. Cosson found, for instance, the temperature of the 
desert sand 50° to 70° C. (122° to 158° F.), while at a depth of 1 decimeter (about 4 
inches) it was only 25 c C. (77 1 - F.) ; the water of the wells dug in the creek beds 19° 
C. (66°.2F.) at most. 



' 



22 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

We have thus seen, on the one hand, that with an abundant water supply in the soil 
the highest temperatures do not hurt the date-palm ; on the other hand, that a tem- 
perature of about— 10° C. (14° F.) or below kills it. From this it must be presumed 
that its heat demand must be a very great one ; that a certain high heat coefficient 
is necessary for Tlic ripening of eatable fruit. De Candolle found that the heat co- 
efficient * of 5,100 c of Celsius is necessary, and that the tree does not start growing 
below a temperature of 17 c to 18° C. (62°. 6 to 64°. 4 F.). When this degree of heat is 
first reached (which in the case of the oasis of Biskra is at the end of March) the date- 
palm commences to develop its flowers, the fertilization following at a temperature 
of 20° to 25° C. (68° to 77 c F.). Theconclusion from observations of the temperatures 
in the various date countries is that when the total heat of the growing season from 
flowering to fruit-ripening does not reach 5,100° the fruit of the date does not become 
fit to eat ; it may become fertile, but remains hard and tasteless, wanting in starch 
and sugar, consequently in the nourishing qualities. The higher the total heat is the 
more does the date possess these qualities and the shorter time passes between flower- 
ing and fruiting. , 

The following mean temperatures from various cities of the date region and imme- 
diately adjoining are interesting : In Cairo the average temperature of the year is 2l c .7 
C. (51°. I F.), while that of the months which elapse between flowering and fruit- 
ripening, March, November, is 24 c .l C. ; in Alexandria, the mean of the year ouly 
21°.2 C. (about 69i° F.), the latter 22-. 9 (about 73- F.); in Biskra, 22". 5 C. (about 
72i u F.), the latter 25°.4 (about 73° F.); in Algeria, 20°. 6 C. (about 69° F.) and22°.4 
C. (about 72° F.): in Palermo, 17°.6 C. (63£° F.) and 19°. 6 C. (about 67° F.); in 
Murcia, 17° C. (about 62f° F.) and 19°. 4 C. (66§° F.) ; in San Eemo, Spain, the most 
northerly limit of the date-palm's occurrence, 15°.9 C. (60+° F.) and 17 c .8 C. (about 
64° F.). We see, therefore, that the average temperature of Alexandria, where the 
date still ripens regularly, rises above the 21° C. (70°. 7 F.), while that of Algiers re- 
mains below it; on the other hand, that the temperature from March to November in 
Alexandria is22°.9 C. (72°.5F.), and in Algiers 22°. 4 C. (72°.60 F.). From this we may 
well presume that the northern limit of successful date culture, so far as it is dependent 
on temperature, is marked by a lowering of the average temperature of the year be- 
low 21° C. (69 c .8 F.) aud that of the temperatures of the nine months, March to No- 
vember, below 23° C. (73°. 4 F.). Nevertheless then- are exceptions to this, as will be 
seen later. While the average temperature of the year may generally be an approxi- 
mate guide, it is really the temperature of the growing season, in which the date-palm 
passes through the whole process of its (vegetative) development, that is important. 
These eight months may even be shortened if the heat in less time is so much higher. 

That, however, the heat is by no means the sole determining factor in the climatic 
conditions, but that dryness of atmosphere is a most important one, is best illustrated 
by the fact that as far north as Elche (Spain ) fairly well-flavored dates may be raised. 
Elche, the most northerly point where dates are grown, has a very peculiar climate. 
It lies in a part of Spain which is remarkable for the clearness of the atmosphere and 
scarcity of rain, so that hardly auy culture of the soil is possihle without irrigation. 
It has, outside of North Africa, the least rain aud the driest air of any country of the 
Mediterranean region eastward of the small Syrtis and Murcia, and is rather well 
named, being called "El Reino Serenissimo." It has a gypseous and marly soil. Out- 
side of the irrigated oases only a vegetation of a sandy steppe is produced. The 
temperature in Murcia ranges from 44. c 8 (about 112 F.) in summer to .V C. in winter, 
and an average winter temperature of 10° C. (50° F.) stands against one of 24° C. 
(72. °2 F.^ in the summer. The wind changes regularly in spring southeast, north- 
east, taking the place of southwest, northwest. The rainfall is on an average 367 
millimeters, aud there are years when ouly 260 millimeters (8 to 9 inches) have fallen. 
The quick, violent showers are generally soon followed by clear, dry weather. The 
relative moisture of the air is only 60 per cent, on an average, rising in January to 

* Summary of the daily average temperature. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 23 

69 per cent., sinking in June to 50 per cent. The yearly evaporation is 21.11 milli- 
meters against 22.99 in Cairo. Hot, dry winds are frequent. Here we have, then, 
and here alone in Europe, a climate that might he called mild Saharan. We rind here, 
also, everything African — numerous plants indigenous to the Sahara and Algeria. 

The description of this is not unlike that of the climate of the interior 
part of California, especially in the southeast, and it is interesting to learn 
that this region fulfills the heat requirements of the date perfectly, taking 
the above-stated data as a basis. According to the temperature tables 
computed by the Central Pacific Railroad at their various stations (pub- 
lished in the Pacific Rural Press, February 4, 1882), the temperature 
at Delano, a station southeast of Tulare Lake, during the twelve months 
of 1878-'79 averaged 65°.39 F.=18o.55 O.j for the seven months, April 
to October, 76°.71 F.=24°.S0 C, making a total heat coefficient for the 
seven months of 5,297°.20. In 1879-'80, for twelve months, 68°.82 F.= 
20°.40 C. ; for seven months, 80°.84 F.=27°.10 C, making a total of 
5,799°.40 C. At Fresno City, during the years 1878-'79, we have for the 
twelve months 69°.45 F.=20°.86 C. ; for the seven months, 79°.90F.= 
26°.60 C, and a total of 5,682°.40 0." In 1879-'80, for the twelve months, 
65°.51 F.=18°.60 C. ; for seven months, 76°.21 F.=25°.10 C, making a 
total for seven months of 5,253°.70 C. 

In many localities in the southern part of San Joaquin Valley an 
equally high temperature prevails during the summer. Farther north 
the length of the season diminishes sensibly ; and although we have 
seen that early dates may mature as far north as 38° northern latitude, 
yet 36° northern latitude will most likely be the northern limit in Cali- 
fornia for successful date culture on a large scale. From this south- 
ward to as far as where the summer rains become too abundant, seems 
to be the most promising territory in the northwestern hemisphere ; for, 
as has been remarked before, abundant atmospheric moisture during 
the flowering and ripening season invariably marks the limits for suc- 
cessful date culture in the eastern hemisphere. 

Nearly all the regions we have had occasion to speak of as date countries are more 
or less inside the influence of desert climate : thus the North African States border- 
ing the Sahara, Egypt, and Nubia, as far south as latitude 15° north, south of which 
we enter into a zone more or less characterized by summer rains, gradually passing 
to the equatorial summer rainy seasons, which put a complete stop to the culture of 
the date-palm as a fruit tree. The rain-fall, even during the winter, is in these Afri- 
can countries extremely scanty and irregular, and failure for two years is by no means 
rare in the oases of the Sahara ; while the almost total absence of rain on the east coast 
of Egypt restricts the culture to but very few localities. 

The Arabian west coast, on the contrary, is blessed with considerable moisture dur- 
ing November, December, and January, and in consequence of this date culture flour- 
ishes in many localities along the coast of the Red Sea. Southern Arabia also is char- 
acterized by plentiful rains, making culture of coffee and other tropical fruits the 
most profitable ; and date culture recedes from the coast to the high table-lands of the 
interior, where it reaches its greatest proportion, although carried on more or less in 
places along the south coast; and in the southeastern corner of Arabia (Oman) it as- 
sumes again chief importance. The eastern Arabian coast has a very scanty supply 
of rain, so that date culture is prevented by this cause and only carried on in favora« 
ble localities. When we reach the upper part of the Persian Gulf we meet with 



24 CULTURE OF THE DATE. 

abundant winter rain, especially so iu Mesopotamia, where we have another impor- 
tant center of date culture. The rains fall here chiefly from December to March, and 
are in lower Karun sufficient for the culture of wheat without irrigation. 

In Farsistan, Laristan, and Kirman (all provinces of Persia) the amount of rain 
varies according to elevation, but the fall is during the months from November to 
March, while in the oasis of Tebes, the most northerly point in this longitude, where 
date culture is of great importance, spring rains, though apparently very scanty, do 
occur. 

Iu Mekran (Southern Beloochistan) as well as in Upper Beloochistau. it rains regu- 
larly in winter, while in Seistan (Afghanistan), where formerly date culture was car- 
ried on, and traces of a once flourishing country are found, the scanty rains seem 
chiefly to fall in the spring. 

In India date culture of any importance is found only iu the northwest (Punjaub),. 
which is subject ouly to a limited amount of rain during the summer (compared with 
India) owing to peculiar conditious. 

The summer monsoon blows iu the Punjaub (Multan) from May to October, begin- 
ning as west-southwest, in June south-southwest, in July southwest, in August again 
resuming south-southwest, and ending in October with west-southwest. This mon- 
soon carries much moisture, and date culture would be impossible if the mountains 
did not cause part of this to be precipitated near the coast, great heat of the plains 
preventing the rest from becoming rain. In the Punjaub there is, therefore, in spite 
of the monsoon, but scanty summer rains, especially in the south, and the rain-fall 
only increases when we get nearer to the Himalaya Mountains. The long dry season, 
the condition favorable for successful date culture, is, therefore, existing even here, the 
months of April and May, the time of blooming, and, still more, that of the fruit- 
ripening, October, and November, being especially dry. 

FINAL CONCLUSIONS. 

When we consider the climates of all the regions mentioned as true 
date countries, we see, as before remarked, a striking resemblance to 
that of the southern part of the Pacific States, and after what we have 
learned of local trials here it seems almost beyond question that date 
culture must at some future day become an important enterprise in 
many regions now considered comparatively worthless. The date 
would fill a blank in the list of our wonderfully diversified products 
with a crop of the more importance because of its peculiar require- 
ments, which are such that it, in a large measure, need not transgress 
on the province of any other fruit tree or cereals. 

It would thus seem that the encouragement of date culture in suit- 
able localities should engage the attention of the Government. The 
first step to be taken would be the introduction of the eariy varieties 
from Spain and the northern part of Africa and Persia. This, as will 
be remembered, can oulv be done by procuring sprouts (or suckers) 
from these varieties, or, what would be far better and safer, rooted plants 
grown from the sprout. If such plants were distributed to the proper 
parties Ave would doubtless have within five or six years some remark- 
able results. 

Besides this, some experiments with hardy seedlings should be made 
in alkaline regions, in order to determine definitely how strongly 
charged might be the waters and soils in which the date-palm would 
-flourish. 



CULTURE OF THE DATE. 25 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

By request of the author the following letter, which recently appeared 

in the San Francisco Rural Press, is here inserted : 

La Paz, New Mexico, March 21, 1883. 
Editor Rural Press, San Francisco : 

My father, E. von Borstel, who is living on his hacienda, Los Dolores, in this Terri- 
tory, requests me to communicate to you the following facts : 

In an issue of your paper I have read with interest an article on dates, and as I 
already have more than 2,000 palms in excellent growing condition, I helieve that my 
experience with them would be of service to your readers. My rancho covers three 
sitios de granada. Mayor (pasture parcels), about 27 English square miles, all coast, 
between 25° and 26°, the lowest temperature 55° ; the highest 100° ; about this time 
58° to 70°. Diseases and mosquitos unknown. Rain as well as dew very scarce. The 
weather is constantly fine — almost too much so. 

When, in the year 1870, I took possession of this rancho I found only two date- 
palms, which quite corresponds with what you say in your paper. These are from 
dates that the Jesuit fathers brought from Spain. Since 1877, the time I retired from 
my mercantile business, I have made Los Dolores my place of residence. I pro- 
cured the best African seed, and planted in the month of July 350 date-pits. Of 
these, however, only 25 germinated. I obtained more seed, and planted first in pure 
sand. The results were grand, for, as previously stated, I have now over 2,000 palms 
in excellent growing condition. For the last two years I have been picking more 
dates than both myself and my workmen could eat. Last year a few palms gave me 
more than 100 pounds each, and this year I calculate on 4,000 pounds for sale ; all 
this since July, 1877. The palms have now been in bloom for fourteen days. Ab- 
normal characters occur also ; for instance, a staminate tree has borne three bunches 
of fruit, and is now again covered with staminate flowers. 

I would not recommend seed from Spain. My seeds planted in pure sand germinated 
in from thirty to forty days, and the palms usually give the first fruit in the third 
year, with certainty in the fourth, instead of in the fifteenth as in Egypt or in Spain. 
This naturally must be attributed to the favorable climate. 

Much sand, a little water, and not too much salt are necessary for the first years. 
With }) len tifid irrigation, however, the palm will thrive in a soil that contains even large 
quantities of alkali. 

Nothing must be trimmed off the young plants until they fruit, and even then with 
great care — only the dry and withered leaves. 

It appears to me that my palms, as well as my olives , grow faster during the cool 
months than during the hot ones. 

The 2,000 palms and about 1,000 olive and fig trees are watered by two pumps 
driven by wind-mills. The pumps are No. 1, of Jewell & Co., and the wind-mills are 
of the old Dutch fashion, with six sails instead of four, which we always can repair 
ourselves. I water every fourteen days, and each plant gets from sixty to eighty 
gallons of water. As soon as this is absorbed the whole circumference is loosened up 
by the hoe to a depth of about four inches. 

In a canon, about two miles from my palm and olive plantation, I have still another 
garden, with 20,000 grape vines and 400 fig-trees, watered by a spring which might 
run a turbine of at least twenty horse-power without disturbing irrigation in the 
least. 

Use the above as may suit you, and if you wish further information on semi-trop- 
ical fruits I am always at your service. 
Respectfully, 

E. vox BORSTEL, 
PerH. A. v. BORSTEL. 

1165 3 

O 




918 080 1 



